The Loam
The Loam is the largest of the Shards, a mighty, continent-spanning forest containing a multitude of biomes: swamps, tropical groves, boreal growth, and all other manner of heavy woods, all populated in equal measure by fey, wood elves, and the small foothold of industry claimed by the Blight. The Great Ones The ecosystem of the Loam possesses a unique quality that distinguishes it from a common forest; as one travels further toward the Heart-Elm at the center of the Loam, both the flora and fauna increase dramatically in size, akin to the manner in which larger fish and whales are found at great depths in the sea. The truly skyscraper-sized megafauna near the Heart are referred to by the elves as Great Ones, and are revered as gods, each in possession of a unique name and priesthood -- enormous boar, stags, dinosaurs, panthers, and other titanic animals who lord over the forest, protecting the populations of their more common-sized brethren when threatened. The Great Ones rarely stray from the Heart, and movements of the Great Ones on "expeditions" out of their typical domain are tracked by elven druids so their approximate position is known at all times, with adventuring parties' travel routes through the woods planned accordingly. When these expeditions bring the Great Ones too close to an elven settlement, a Greathunt is declared, and the entirety of the threatened tribe mobilizes to either drive off or slay the approaching god. The death of a Great One is cause for a full year of mourning among the elves, and most often results in the Great One's soul re-coalescing into a killoren of the Fey Courts -- a similar process to the creation of killoren aboard the Flock after great destruction of nature. The youngest Loamborn killoren is currently Wanders-with-Conscience, created after the death of Mirewalker. Societal structure Elves The elves of the Loam have no formalized structure or official name for themselves, going simply by "the people of the forest" when required to be addressed by extra-Shardic entities like the Planeswatch. Tribal groups of several families can be found in pockets dotted all across the Loam, and elves of varying stock may be found depending on the biome they occupy. Each tribe elects, chooses by seniority, or otherwise determines a Speaker -- typically a druid -- to represent their interests at the Elfmoot, a meeting of the tribal Speakers convened either once every eight seasons or whenever a Greathunt is declared. The current head of the Elfmoot is Stone-and-Sky, representative of the Forestlord elves who tend to the Heart-Elm. (Players wishing to play Loam elves may represent them with standard Player's Handbook elves, Wood Elves, Forestlord Elves, Star Elves, or Snow Elves according to their biome of origin.) The Blight A single human and halfling foothold also exists in the Loam, reluctantly granted to a displaced group of settlers from the Dominion of the Rose Throne by the Elfmoot after the Breaking. The patch of land this foothold occupies is blighted and withered from an age-old sickness, meant to be taken as more insult than "gift" -- but to the Moot's astonishment, the industrious settlers set about harvesting the dead wood and built cabins, a town hall, and a wall to defend their claim. Their coexistence with the rest of the Loam is tense, but currently peaceful, with the half-elf Mayor Ladrian Lestrade attempting to bridge both elven and human interests despite the Moot's xenophobic attitude toward halfbloods. The Fey Courts When a Greathunt concludes in the death of a Great One, the faeries of the forest establish a Fey Court in the skeletonized remains of the beast after its hide, horn, and meat are claimed by the rest of the Loam. Enchanted creatures of all kinds -- dryads, nymphs, dullahan, feyborn aasimar, killoren, and others -- may be found in these courts, and while outsiders are invited into their eternal celebrations warmly, most who succumb to such temptation are are overcome by a powerful spell of contentment and complacency after remaining for too long, finding it extremely difficult to even think of leaving again. All fey bow to the Faerie Queen on High, Sailhan. Relationship with the Planeswatch Watchmen are often recruited from the settlers of the Blight, particularly half-elves longing for a sense of home, often caught between the scorn of their elven parents and the frustrations of their human ones. Loam elves overcome with a sense of wanderlust also join in small numbers, as do the fey, and all three major factions call upon the Watch's service with Coins of Calling regularly. Most Watch work comes through the Loam, simply by its nature as the largest of the Shards. Category:Shards Category:Settings Category:Planeswatch